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School roof repair finished under the wire

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DENHAM SPRINGS - The Livingston Parish School System used a loophole to get emergency repairs done to fix a roof on the cafeteria at Gray's Creek Elementary School.

The school board suspended the public bid law to get $200,000 worth of repairs done before school started.

Every summer the school system does roof work on several schools, making sure to finish before school begins.

"Well it would be very disruptive to the instructional day. You know it just doesn't provide a good setting for children for a learning experience to have that type of distraction going on," said Superintendent John Watson. "You know we were able to get it 95 percent done before school started, and they're finishing up now in the evenings as they move along."

The work got done because the school system saved weeks of time by declaring the work as an emergency repair in order to suspend the public bidding process. That allowed contractors to get started on repairs without having to wait.